The House has voted 257-167 to pass what the Leftist media is calling a ‘Clean’ DHS Funding Bill which fully funds Obama’s unconstitutional Executive Amnesty. While the majority of the 257 Congressmen and women who passed the bill were Democrats, this falls on the feet of all those who voted to retain John Boehner as the Speaker of the House.

It was only a few months ago that hundreds of thousands of Americans jammed the US Capitol’s switchboard demanding a change in house leadership due to Boehner’s unwillingness to stop Obama’s move toward ‘fundamental transformation’. These calls and emails were ignored by establishment Republicans namely Rep Trent Franks, Rep Schweikert, Rep Matt Salmon, and Rep Martha McSally who chose Boehner’s PAC money over the American tax-payers. For several years now these same politicians have told us at LD meetings or Tea Party rallies that ‘DC is broken’ and they need our support. Well, to borrow a phrase from Pottery Barn, ‘you broke it, you bought it’.

By keeping the current leadership in place these Republicans are just as responsible for the passage of today’s Amnesty funding bill just as much those who actively lobbied for it. We’ll say it again for clarity; Mr Franks, Mr Schweikert, Mr Salmon, Mrs McSally, You. Own. This. Crap. Sandwich.

How do we make the claim these four voted for Obama’s Amnesty? To know this, you must learn one of the procedural games the GOP Leadership play all too often:

INSIDE BASEBALL: HOW DC PLAYS YOU

The House Leadership forwards whatever the Chamber of Commerce wants while simultaneously trying to pacify the base. That’s where things like the pointless ACU ‘scores’ come in to play. Let’s take today’s vote for example:

STAGE 1 – THE DISTRACTION: Boehner decides in mid Feb that this bill should be postponed until today during the fog of Netanyahu’s speech in order to mitigate the number of grassroots phone-calls to DC offices. They are betting that we’d be too distracted fighting the Anti-Semites on the Left today.

STAGE 2 – THE BROKEN PROMISE: Knowing that he could not get the support of a majority of Republicans, he strikes a deal with Pelosi for a Clean Bill in violation of his Hastert Rule promise.

STAGE 3 – QUID PRO QUO: After a backroom deal is struck with the Dems, Boehner creates a strategy with Pelosi to use ‘regular order’ to ensure the bill gets passed in spite of the results of the 2014 elections.

STAGE 4 – WHIPPING UP SUPPORT: Pelosi then dispatches House Dem Whips to do a head count to ensure Boehner gets the votes to pass Obama’s Amnesty without GOP support. Pelosi tells Boehner they have votes needed plus a little extra for padding

STAGE 5- THE SHOW VOTE: GOP Leadership calls a closed-door conference to give border hawks the green light on voting ‘NO’ knowing it will pass anyway. This way the Leadership/Chamber gets what they want and the faux-Conservatives keep their bona fides among the grassroots come election time.

STAGE 6 – RIGGING THE NUMBERS: The ‘Border Hawks’ vote NO knowing they can do so without jeopardizing Boehner’s plan. It’s little more than a show vote done so representatives can be graded on a single vote as ‘SOLID’ and be able to tout their valued ACU/Club For Growth, FreedomWorks/Whatever org scores in campaign ads while screwing the American tax-payer under the radar. We now know that it is far worse to support a Speaker who does this than a faux-NO vote on a bill that has been predetermined by the donor class to pass.

STAGE 7 – THE BAIT & SWITCH: Come election time, they tell us that they voted AGAINST Amnesty and that we NEED them to stay in DC to ‘fight for us’, with the truth being that nothing will change while they remain in DC. This is precisely how someone like John McCain can serve (themselves) in office for decades as things get worse.

The well-fed right will state “THIS HEADLINE IS DISHONEST! Schweikert, Franks, et al actually voted against this bill, blah.. blah.. blah…” but in reality, now that we know similar parliamentary tricks were practiced with regularity under Speaker Boehner before his reelection in January and since these representatives voted to retain GOP leadership, it’s reasonable to conclude those who backed Boehner for Speaker approve of these tactics and the results. Therefore, we at ArizonaInformer will now score EVERY unpopular bill that Speaker Boehner passes from the floor and will publicize them as a YES vote for the Representatives mentioned above.

WASHINGTON – Today, Rep. Ron Barber voted to keep the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in charge of implementing ObamaCare, despite the numerous scandals that have severely hurt the agency’s credibility.

The IRS has betrayed the trust of the American people, yet Democrats like Ron Barber want it to have a “dominant role” in our healthcare. They can’t even be trusted to use your tax dollars wisely, why should they be trusted with your healthcare?

“In spite of the numerous scandals involving the agency, Ron Barber believes the IRS should still be controlling your healthcare,” said NRCC Communications Director Andrea Bozek. “For Democrats like Barber, more government is always the answer—even if it has betrayed the public trust like the IRS.”

According To A Report From Treasury’s Inspector General, Lax Oversight Resulted In The IRS Targeting Conservative Groups. “Lax oversight at the Internal Revenue Service allowed for the singling out of some conservative groups, resulting in lengthy delays in the processing of their applications for federal tax-exempt status, according to a report by the agency’s inspector general released Tuesday.” (Dana Bash and Chelsea J. Carter, “Obama says some IRS employees ‘failed,’ orders accountability,” CNN, 5/15/13)

The IRS Will Have A “Dominant Role” In ObamaCare, Even Determining Who Will Get Included In Mandate. “Get ready for the Internal Revenue Service to play a dominant role in health care. When Obamacare takes full effect next year, the agency will enforce most of the laws involved in the reform—even deciding who gets included in the health-care mandate.” (Mark Koba, “When It Comes to Health-Care Reform, the IRS Rules,” CNBC, 5/6/13)

The IRS Spent $50 Million On Conferences Over Two Years. “A government watchdog has found that the Internal Revenue Service spent about $50 million to hold at least 220 conferences for employees between 2010 and 2012, a House committee said Sunday.” (“House Report: IRS Spent $50M On Conferences,” Associated Press, 6/2/13)

Below is the front page article of the July 15 Arizona Capitol Times. I want to express my appreciation to those courageous and principled County and LD Republican Committees who have already conducted votes of “censure” and/or “no confidence.”

Jan Brewer, the legislators and their crony capitalist friends that support ObamaCare and Medicaid expansion have betrayed Americans, Arizona Republicans and the Republican Party Platform. Their lack of ethics, integrity and egregious acts are motivated by only two things – greed and the lust for power – at the expense of hard working tax paying Americans.

The law was expected to cost $898 billion over the first decade when the bill was first passed, but this year the Congressional Budget Office revised that estimate to $1.85 trillion. Money that will have to be borrowed from the Chinese or printed in the backroom of the Federal Reserve. Latest polls indicate a majority of Americans are opposed to ObamaCare and Medicaid expansion with an overwhelming majority of Republicans in opposition.

During the past six months, we did everything we could to make a solid argument against ObamaCare and Medicaid expansion, we tried to reason with these people and even tried to make them see the light. Unfortunately, our lobbying efforts fell on deaf ears and without success.

During one of Ronald Reagan’s difficult political battles he said,

“When you can’t make them see the light, make them feel the heat.”

I’m asking all the County and LD Republican Committees to make these people feel the heat by passing public censures for their actions. They are elitists who think what they have done should be forgiven. They are mistaken. We are not going to be able to defeat all of them, but we can defeat a majority of them in the 2014 Primary Election.

You can go to “MCRC Briefs” and get examples of public censures that have already been passed. http://briefs.maricopagop.org/ Just type “censure” in the search field on the left.

Warmest regards,

A. J. LaFaro

Chairman, Maricopa County Republican Committee

P.S. Please encourage all of your PCs to keep up their daily efforts in getting petition signatures for www.urapc.org Getting ObamaCare and Medicaid expansion on the November 2014 ballot will be historic for Arizona’s grassroots conservatives.

WASHINGTON, D.C., November 30, 2011 — The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) released the following statement by Senior Vice President for Federal Public Policy Susan Eckerly regarding today’s vote on H.R. 3094, the Workforce Democracy and Fairness Act. The legislation was proposed in response to the National Labor Relation Board’s (NLRB) recent proposal on “ambush” elections and its decision in Specialty Healthcare to allow micro-unions, and is strongly supported by the NFIB.

“The NLRB is at it again. In an attempt to circumvent Congress—after it prevented the passage of card check legislation—the NLRB proposed the ‘ambush election rule,’ condensing the time period in which employers and employees have to prepare for a union election, so undermining the rights of both. And in its latest effort to blunt employer rights, the Board ruled in favor of so-called micro-unions, allowing unions to organize mini-bargaining units throughout a business. Unfortunately, the NLRB fails to realize that its pro-union actions will only create more uncertainty for small-business owners at a time when the country needs them to be creating more jobs.

“Fortunately, Congress has responded. In passing this bill, the House has demonstrated its understanding and concern for the unique demands that the NLRB’s irresponsible actions would place on small business. It is always a challenge for small business owners to keep current with new regulations and labor laws, especially in the current economic environment. It is the responsibility of our lawmakers to ensure that our nation’s job-creators are given the tools they need to succeed—not overwhelmed with rules and prohibitions that suppress growth and hiring. With so many small-business owners identifying economic and political uncertainty as their primary concern, NFIB is pleased that with its vote today, Congress has taken steps to renew small-business confidence.”

NFIB is the nation’s leading small-business advocacy organization, representing 350,000 small businesses around the country.

# # #

NFIB is the nation’s leading small business association, with offices in Washington, D.C., and all 50 state capitals. Founded in 1943 as a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization, NFIB gives small and independent business owners a voice in shaping the public policy issues that affect their business. NFIB’s powerful network of grassroots activists send their views directly to state and federal lawmakers through our unique member-only ballot, thus playing a critical role in supporting America’s free enterprise system. NFIB’s mission is to promote and protect the right of our members to own, operate and grow their businesses. More information is available online at www.NFIB.com/newsroom.

We did an overview of the session from a Pachyderm Coalition rating perspective. Of legislation that passed the legislature, we supported 129 bills and opposed 16 for a percentage of 89%. When these were adjusted by the weights assigned to the bills, the percentage was slightly higher at 93% which meant that we were more successful, on average, with the bills that were more important to us. Also, there were 38 bills we opposed that did not pass in the legislature. The average scores of the legislators were good this session which reflected passing a good budget and probably also increased party discipline due to having larger majorities. The performance of Senators compared to Representatives, overall, was very comparable.

This year, we decided that it was important to add one more important player in the legislative process to our ratings: the Governor, Jan Brewer. We calculated her score after the session ended. After the governor decided which bills sent to her desk would become law and which she would veto, we applied our scoring to the Governor’s actions. For all bills sent by the legislature to the Governor, we considered signing the bill or allowing it to become law without signing would be considered as a YES vote while a veto would be considered a NO vote. The Governor either signed or vetoed all bills from the Regular Session – she did not allow a bill to become law without her signature. Signing a bill we positively weighted would increase her score and vetoing it would reduce her score. For negatively weighted bills, signing decreased her score and vetoing increased her score. As with the legislators, she was rated only on the actions she could take in the legislative process by a specific, recordable action. For the legislators, it is votes. For the Governor, it is allowing bills sent to her to become law or to veto them. Of the bills we were tracking, the Governor’s vetoed 20 bills we supported and 1 bill we opposed. She signed 109 bills we supported and 15 bills we opposed.

Governor Jan Brewer’s Pachyderm score is 56.7 which we label as Republican. This is substantially below the average scores of Republican Senators and Representatives at 81.3. It is, in fact, below the score of ANY Republican legislator – the lowest is 60.6. Governor Jan Brewer is the lowest scoring Republican in the state’s legislative process.

For additional information about the ratings, visit the Pachyderm Coalition website.

AFP-Arizona’s 2011 Legislative Scorecard (the 27th annual scorecard put out by AFP-Arizona and the Arizona Federation of Taxpayers) will not be published until this summer, and will end up scoring hundreds of tax, budget, and regulatory bills. But with the close of the 2011 legislative session on Wednesday, we are issuing a preliminary report on how Governor Jan Brewer and the Arizona Legislature performed, based upon the bills having the largest projected fiscal impact on Arizona taxpayers, consumers, and producers.

Action Item—Possible Brewer Vetoes

At this point, it is unclear how Governor Jan Brewer will perform on this year’s Scorecard. She will do poorly if she follows the bad advice of the Arizona Republic’s editorial board and vetoes the municipal managed competition reform (SB 1322), the interstate health insurance competition bill (SB 1593), and the statutory spending limit (HB 2707). Vetoes on those three bills would land her below 50 percent, in the category of “Friend of Big Government.” If she signs all three into law, she will score in the high 70-percent range (“Friend of the Taxpayer”).

Please call and email Governor Brewer TODAY and ask her to sign those three bills.

Overall, the typical Republican Legislator did a very good job on fiscal policy during the 2011 legislative session—thanks in large part to strong pressure from taxpayer activists and tea partiers. Except for a handful of outliers, Arizona’s GOP Senators and Representatives voted in favor of the following pro-taxpayer measures:

Balanced budgets for FY 2011 and 2012 that include minimal gimmicks and that put the state on course to retire debt;

Spending limit bills that would place obstacles in the way of out-of-control spending by future Legislators and Governors;

The most comprehensive municipal services privatization bill in the country;

Reform of state employee pensions, which are currently trending toward bankruptcy; and,

Transparency bills requiring local governments and school districts to post their budgets in prominent places on their websites.

For Gov. Brewer and for the typical majority Legislator, the high base scores resulting from the votes enumerated above may be pushed slightly higher on the final Scorecard, given that AFP-Arizona has yet to grade hundreds of bills with low point totals. Legislators introduced dozens of good bills this session, and some of them made it to the Governor’s desk. (Of course, there were also many bad bills with low point totals, and we will likely discover some fiscal landmines among the dozens of bills that were passed quickly in the closing hours of the session).

Although typical majority members in both chambers will score highly on the Scorecard, it appears that the typical Senator will do somewhat better than the typical Representative. Given preliminary estimates, the typical Senator will score in the high 80-precent range (“Champion of the Taxpayer”), while the typical Representative will score in the high 70-percent range (“Friend of the Taxpayer”). Senators will likely score higher in large part for the following reasons:

The Senate version of the budget included heavier budget cuts;

The Senate’s spending limit referenda were constitutional, voter-approved measures (making them very difficult for politicians to override), whereas the House spending limit bill that went to the Governor’s desk would be statutory (and thus could be set aside by simple majorities in the House and Senate); and,

The constitutional Paycheck Protection referendum (SCR 1028) failed to move in the House, having been supplanted by a version of the reform (SB 1365) that included unprincipled (and voter-unfriendly) carve-outs and that failed to get the necessary forty “emergency” votes in the House to prevent the government-worker unions from taking the flawed version of the bill to the ballot.

More about the Legislative Scorecard:

Use the link below to study AFP-Arizona’s scoring rubric (page 3), and to view hypothetical scores for Governor Brewer, the typical majority Senator, and the typical majority Representative (pages 4-6). For policy summaries of AFP-Arizona’s key bills, see pages 7-11.

The AFP-Arizona Legislative Scorecard weights fiscal policy and regulatory bills according to their projected dollar impact to Arizona taxpayers, consumers, and producers ($1 million equals one point). The AFP-Arizona Scorecard does not grade bills relating to constitutional, electoral, moral/social, or criminal-law matters, except insofar as those bills are projected to have a clear and significant financial impact on taxpayers, consumers, and producers.

Grassroots taxpayer activists and tea party members can help us greatly in promoting free markets by reminding Governor Jan Brewer and Arizona’s Legislators that we will hold them strictly accountable in 2011 and 2012. We hope that the AFP-Arizona Legislative Scorecard proves to be a very helpful tool for activists in demanding fiscal accountability from their elected officials.

Washington, D.C. – Rep. David Schweikert (R-AZ) issued the following statement today after voting for a short-term continuing resolution which would fund our troops through the end of the year, cut an additional $12 billion in government spending, and prevent a government shutdown:

“Today I voted to take our troops out of the front lines of Washington’s political battles, cut more spending, and keep the government open. Senate Democrats have yet to support this or any budget resolution and our Commander and Chief has already said he will veto it without explanation. However, I will never compromise or stand down when it comes to supporting the men and women who put their lives on the line to protect us.

“In addition to funding the troops through the end of FY2011, this stopgap measure will cut $12 billion more in Washington spending. At a time when our deficit is in the trillions and our government is on a verge of a shutdown, it is incomprehensible that Senate Democrats will not accept a modest budget cut that equals just two percent of this year’s budget.

“I want to encourage my friends in the Senate to pass this continuing resolution. The decision is simple: vote to pay our troops or walk away and let the government shut down.”

BACKGROUND:

The House has passed two bills that would keep the government running through the end of this fiscal year and cut $61 billion in job destroying spending. (H.R. 1, passed February 19th and H.R. 1255, passed April 1st). H.R. 1363 is the third bill out of the House to fund the Department of Defense through the end of the fiscal year.

47 days after the House passed the first bill to keep the government running through FY2011, the Senate has yet to do the same.

The House has also already passed a measure that would not allow Members of Congress to be paid during a government shutdown (H.R. 1255)

Many have been asking about my recent votes on five immigration related bills in the State Senate, due to circulated misinformation. Since misinformation does a disservice to you, my constituents and supporters, I am sending this email to insure that your news is accurate. I also believe that you are entitled to know of the careful reasoning I applied to these and to all my Senate votes.

Emails and articles are circulating that I voted NO on all five bills. This is incorrect. The correct information is that I voted YES on three of the bills and no on only two.

The two no votes were based on the best information available from a number of sources. In short, I sincerely believe that SB 1308 (interstate compacts; birth certificates) and SB 1309 (Arizona citizenship) are unconstitutional.

If we as citizens believe in the U.S. Constitution and Federalism, we must then accept that the federal government operates under the enumerated powers found in Article I, Section 8 and under empowerment found in the Fourteenth Amendment. I hope you will read my complete rationale for the yes votes and the no votes by clicking here and opening my website.

There you will find a very thorough rationale on my votes. I believe that if you take the time to visit my website and read my account of the principle used to make these votes, you will see that my votes were thought out, followed the Constitution, and supported my constituents to the fullest.

If you prefer to go to the rationale on the no votes directly then click this link for SB 1308 (interstate compact; birth certificates)

The Republican Precinct Committeemen (PCs) who elected me as their Maricopa County Chairman by an unprecedented margin of 70%, did so for a reason. They wanted a spokesman with a clear, consistent, conservative position on the issues as opposed to what they frequently heard from elected Republican office holders pandering to the moderate wing of the Party. The level of disgust held by PCs toward the Republicans who voted with the Democrats on the illegal immigration bills this past week is palpable.

The excuses given by these senators for their actions were the same platitudes we’ve heard repeatedly from those in the business community bonded to the concept of an exploitable, cheap labor force. They are joined in their efforts by the liberal media, the ACLU and the Democrat Party when opposing legislation or policies (Prop 200, employer sanctions, sanctuary cities, SB1070) which sought to enforce our immigration laws. They protest: “We agree …but it is a federal issue …the border has never been more secure …it is discriminatory and racist …it will not be upheld in court …citizenship is a federal issue …Arizona can’t go it alone …unintended consequences …boycotts …we are not pro-illegal immigration, we just need to press the federal government for meaningful immigration reform …we have more pressing issues to deal with such as the economy …there are more issues than illegal immigration …it is poorly written, etc.”

The PCs know better than to ask these maverick senators, “Where are your perfect bills or amendments that you have submitted to stop the illegal alien invasion?” There are no bills coming from these senators because they are mavericks and crossing the aisle to vote with the Democrats is what mavericks do. There are no Democrat mavericks because Democrats are committed to their platform and will not tolerate dissent within their ranks.

The savvy PCs recognize the talking point excuses as insincere malarkey. They know the truth is that the business community demands cheap labor and the Democrats want the bonanza of the illegal alien vote upon attaining citizenship through amnesty. PCs are bewildered by Republican legislators whom they assisted in their quest for political power now voting against defending the party and the nation. As taxpaying citizens, the PCs see the results of the invasion. We have experienced a marked negative impact on our personal safety, while funding the overburdened educational, medical, and criminal justice systems dealing with the burdens imposed by those in our country in violation of our laws and national borders.

Some of our schools now instruct children that the United States is an aggressor nation, teaching the racist LaRaza and Reconquista studies programs. Meanwhile, taxes and spending have drastically increased. We have imported a culture of corruption, intimidation and contempt for authority. Mob rule can be witnessed all too often at the Arizona State Capitol. Foreign drug cartels openly flaunt their power within our borders. Voter fraud and ID theft are rampant.

The federal government will not stop this invasion. In fact, they have demonstrated that they will do what they can to insure that it continues. To persist with the mantra that it is a federal issue and will be addressed at that level is to deny history. The deterioration of all aspects of our society is manifested in the illegal alien invasion.

PCs recognize that border security is national security. The refusal of these Republicans to take meaningful actions to secure our border in this era of Islamic terrorism is indefensible.

Do these senators fail to realize the result their votes have on the well-being of the Party? Do they not remember what happened when Sens. McCain, Kyl and Rep. Flake advocated for an amnesty bill, while 80 – 90% of the Republican base opposed it? The GOP, thanks in large part to Tea Party activists who hold Constitutional and Republican Platform beliefs, is only now beginning to recover from the mass exodus to the Independent ranks provoked by our own representatives. Due to numerous liberal positions taken by some of our elected Republicans, the public sees little difference between Democrats and Republicans. That concept must change for Republicans to continue to succeed. But now the maverick Republicans in the Arizona Senate have dealt another body blow to the Republican base.

It is imperative that newly invigorated activists not become discouraged because some Republican Senators have betrayed our efforts on their behalf and the confidence that has been placed in them. We can expect setbacks from time to time as the moneyed interests try to maintain their influence. Money can buy an election if the voters are uninformed or misinformed. It is our duty to build an educated voter base that understands the issues and votes accordingly, no matter how much is spent to deceive them. Our Founders put their lives on the line by signing the Declaration of Independence. All we have to do is campaign in the Republican primary in favor of those advocating for the political principles vital to the survival of our Republic.

I urge you to rally other patriots to the cause, join the Republican Party and make your voice more powerful by becoming a Precinct Committeeman (PC). Clearly, the Democrat Party will not advocate for your beliefs and becoming an Independent will only ensure Democrat victories. The most effective method of fighting is to become a Republican PC to help elect candidates who will represent our fundamental values. Please contact me at r_b_haney@yahoo.com if you have an interest in joining us, and I will explain how you can become involved in the political effort to protect Arizona and the United States.

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